Talia meets Dr. G March 16, 2009

Late last week I had the opportunity to visit Talia for the first time since January. Talia has recently underwent some low dose chemo and though she wasn’t feeling the best the weekend before I met with her I must admit that she seemed to be in great spirits when I saw her last week. Because I hadn’t seen her in a while I must admit I was in awe to see how much of her beautiful hair has grown back. Here’s one of the first photos I took of her last week:

I first met with Talia at the clinic where she underwent more bloodwork for tests.

The primary reason I took a trip to meet with Talia last Thursday was to be present during her big trip to see Dr. G, the chief medical examiner of Orange County. Yes, the same Dr. G on the discovery channel! I must admit that with my busy schedule I don’t get many opportunities to watch much TV so I wasn’t as familiar with who Dr. G was. However, Talia knew her quite well from watching her television show. One of the nurses at the clinic managed to arrange a meeting so Talia could meet her in person.

I have to admit that Talia isn’t very shy around my camera now I admired how fearful she looked in this photo as we waited for Dr. G., though Talia really was quite excited.

During our visit we got to meet with Dr. G in her office. She gave Talia a mug and a picture she autographed as we all chatted with her about a variety of topics.

During our visit Desiree and Talia chatted with Dr. G a bit about Talia’s history.They made sure to tell Dr. G how it’s been just over two years since Talia was first diagnosed with neuroblastoma. Dr. G seemed pretty impressed with Talia’s spirit, despite her tough battle with cancer.

Dr. G openly answered many questions for Talia. The conversed about quite a few of the episodes of Dr G medical examiner that Talia has seen on the Discovery channel. Talia seemed most excited to chat with Dr. G about the “chompers” she’s seen used in the show.

Afterwards Dr. G took us downstairs to where parts of the show are filmed – the morgue. Talia was very excited. She quickly put on rubber gloves so she could hold the “chompers” she’s seen used in the show.

I must admit that the experience was fun and I have to extend a huge thanks to Dr. G for taking time out of her extremely busy schedule to meet with Talia. I’ve heard nothing but great things from many others in regards to Dr. G’s ability to reach out to help those she can around her challenging schedule.

Once we returned from our visit we went back to the clinic and met with some of the staff who see Talia fairly regularly. They all seemed very excited to hear abut Talia’s visit.

At the end of our visit Talia, Desiree and Matia let me take one last photo, here it is:

About Angels for Talia

Eleven year old, Talia Castellano, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, neuroblastoma, on February 14, 2007. She was cancer free for 13 months but has relapsed in 2008. She again was cancer free for over a year and relapsed a third time on August 13, 2010. This site was created by Amanda Kern as a photo journal of some experiences with Talia. Our hopes are that through documenting her story, together we'll all be able to help her in her fight with neuroblastoma.

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Donations for Talia

Many have requested how else they could help Talia beyond donating blood & platelets. An account as been established at Washington Mutual and direct donations can be made to the account established: Desiree Castellano for Angels for Talia.